Identification

Title

Seabed Prehistory

Abstract

The project Seabed Prehistory: Gauging the Effects of Marine Aggregate Dredging was undertaken by Wessex Archaeology. It was funded by Round 1 and Round 2 of the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) distributed by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The funding of the project was administered on behalf of Defra by English Heritage (EH) and the Mineral Industries Research Organisation (MIRO); each funding different phases of the project. The Seabed Prehistory project ultimately comprises three ALSF projects (3876 Seabed Prehistory R2 / 4600 Happisburgh/Pakefield exposures / 5401 Seabed Grab Sampling) and has produced a series of eight reports. The project aimed to address strategic gaps identified in the course of preparing Environmental Statements (ES) for marine aggregate extraction licence applications in addition to developing methodologies for assessing the presence or absence of prehistoric archaeology within marine aggregate dredging areas and to provide guidance to industry. This was accomplished by applying industry-standard geophysical and geotechnical tools for archaeological assessment and evaluation in offshore areas. Survey methods included bathymetry, sidescan sonar, shallow seismic survey, vibrocore surveys, and grab sampling surveys. Through the combined use of these high resolution geophysical and geotechnical surveys the project identified and dated deposits and remnant landscapes from pre-Anglian to post-Devensian times, increasing our knowledge of the survival of archaeologically-important deposits in the marine environment. Palaeoenvironmental data from these sites has allowed the reconstruction of the changing prehistoric landscapes, to provide a better understanding of when and if these sites would have been exploited by humans in the past. The project focused on the small scale and high resolution analysis of five different study areas in the North Sea (Humber, Great Yarmouth, Happisburgh and Pakefield) and the English Channel (Arun, Eastern English Channel). All study areas are located close to or within licensed marine aggregate dredging areas, apart from the Happisburgh and Pakefield study area which is related to terrestrial aggregate deposits.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://doi.org/10.5284/1000050

description: A link to the web service or dataset

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/

description: A link to the general host site

Unique resource identifier

code

COLL_ID_1000904

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::27700

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

structure

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2008-01-06

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2009-11-16

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-1.2878

East bounding longitude

2.3320

North bounding latitude

53.3864

South bounding latitude

50.5103

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2010-01-01

code identifying the extent

inapplicable

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2003-03-07

End position

2008-02-29

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2009-03-30

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

This dataset was collected by Wessex Archaeology and provided to the Archaeology Data Service for long term archive and management.

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/advice/termsOfUseAndAccess

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/advice/termsOfUseAndAccess

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

Data Management Officer, Wessex Archaeology

organisation name

English Heritage

full postal address

Customer Services Department, PO Box 569

Swindon

SN2 2YP

telephone number

+44 (0) 870 333 1181

facsimile number

+44 (0) 1793 414926

email address

d.harrison@wessexarch.co.uk

responsible party role

originator

Responsible party

organisation name

Archaeology Data Service

email address

help@archaeologydataservice.ac.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Archaeology Data Service

email address

tim.evans@york.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2019-08-21

Metadata language